WTF?! Back in 2016, before they started catching fire, the Galaxy Note 7 won rave reviews and was hailed as the best Android phone on the market. They're now a part of Samsung's history that it would rather forget, but, despite all its efforts to stop them, some people are still using the handsets.
The Note 7 saga was easily one of the biggest tech fails of the last decade. Because of the then-unknown battery defects, the handsets started causing fires everywhere from planes to hotel rooms. Wisely, Samsung said it would recall and replace the units with new devices guaranteed not to explode. Sadly for the company, they also started to go up in flames, prompting a second recall and the end of the Note 7.
Some thought the disaster could spell the end of the Note line, but the company redeemed itself with the excellent and non-explosive Note 8. But throughout all of this chaos, there were a number of Note 7 buyers who refused to hand back their phones, regardless of the dangers they posed.
When asking didn't work, Samsung tried a few more tricks to get holdouts to return their Note 7s. Software updates limited the amount of charge the batteries could hold, carriers started blocking Note 7 SIMs, and the Korean firm eventually pushed out an update that prohibited charging altogether.
Android Central reports that after everything, there are still some people using Note 7s. They've managed to avoid Samsung's updates and have rooted or modded their handsets to keep them barely working. There's even a Galaxy Note 7 subreddit still active, and Samsung's recall page states that "nearly" all devices have been returned.
With superior phones now on the market, and a Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition available, why are people putting themselves at risk by keeping the recalled Notes? Probably because of their rarity, though the danger they pose and their limited functionality mean it's hardly worth it.